Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The present invention relates to a chair which is primarily designed for use by nursing home patients who can enter and leave the chair in a normal manner and who also will be retained in the chair in a seated position without restraints.
Insofar as known, in the past nursing home patients were restrained in chairs by means of various types of tying arrangements. This was found unsatisfactory for a number of reasons which included the necessity to tie and untie the patient, and, in addition, the patient could sometimes be tangled in the ties and be injured. It is with overcoming the foregoing deficiencies of the prior art that the present chair is concerned.
It is one object of the present invention to provide a chair which is to be used in facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes wherein the patient can enter and leave the chair when the seat and back are latched in a less inclined position and after the patient has been seated, the seat and back can be unlatched from the latched position whereby the center of gravity of the patient will cause the seat and back to pivot to a more inclined position against the bias of springs and then be automatically latched in the more inclined position from which a patient cannot leave the chair, notwithstanding that he is not restrained by ties.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a chair as described in the immediately preceding paragraph which is mounted on wheels and the back portion of the chair frame is constructed so that an attendant can push the chair, as is required, to various locations with the patient therein.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a chair as described above wherein the seat and back can be unlatched from the more inclined position so that when the patient leans forward to shift his center of gravity, the seat and back will return to a less inclined position with the aid of the springs and will be latched in said less inclined position so that the patient can leave the chair as he would from a normal type chair.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a chair as described in the immediately preceding paragraph which also has a foot rest which can be extended from a remote position and can also be retracted from a remote position. Other objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will readily be perceived hereafter.
The present invention relates to a chair comprising a frame, a seat, a front portion on said seat pivotally mounted on said frame, a rear portion on said seat, a back mounted relative to said rear portion of said seat, a spring construction effectively positioned between said seat and said frame, a first selectively actuatable latch positioned between said seat and said frame effective to maintain said seat latched in a less inclined position on said frame, and a second selectively actuatable latch positioned between said seat and said frame effective to maintain said seat latched in a more inclined position on said frame against the bias of said spring construction.
The chair of the present invention as set forth in the immediately preceding paragraph also includes a foot rest pivotally mounted on said frame and movable between retracted and extended positions, and a cable secured to said foot rest for selectively retracting said foot rest to said retracted position.
The various aspects of the present invention will be more fully understood when the following portions of the specification are read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: